1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a control method for the printer, and a data storage medium for the printer control method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a printer that stores in nonvolatile memory amounts relating to the operation of replaceable printer parts and devices or consumption of consumable printer parts and devices, including, for example, the amount of ink used for printing, the number of times a cutter for cutting paper or other print medium is operated, and the number of times a print head is driven in printing operations. The present invention further relates to a control method for the printer, and to a data storage medium for storing a program for achieving this control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers are widely used for printing text and graphics on paper or other print media. Such printers are typically connected to an external data processing device such as a personal computer or other host computer that sends text or graphic data for printing, and control data for controlling the printer. The printer can also send data indicative of the printer status or operating condition to the host computer.
These printers typically use ink to print the text and graphics. An ink jet printer, for example, uses a replaceable ink cartridge, while dot impact printers and thermal transfer printers use a replaceable ink ribbon. Printers that use roll paper are also generally used as point-of-sale (POS) printers. Ink cartridges, ink ribbons, and roller paper are all printer consumables. With respect to these consumables, statistics relating to the amount of ink supplied by the ink supply unit are important for reducing printer cost, as an index for printer maintenance, operation, and management, and for new product development.
The ink jet head, dot impact head, paper cutter, and other operating parts and devices are also disposed in some printers so that they can be easily replaced by the user.
Printers used in a cash register or facsimile machine, for example, must be able to cut the printed paper in units of an appropriate length, e.g., in transaction unit or page unit lengths. Some printers are therefore designed so that the user can replace the cutter blade or cutter device. It is also desirable in such printers to gather statistics relating to, for example, the durability of the cutter blade or device.
The print head is another such replaceable part or device. The print head, particularly an ink jet head, is also commonly treated as a consumable, and information about how many times it is used is also important.
Quantitative information regarding the functionality of replaceable parts such as the ink supply unit, cutter blade, and ink jet head, and more specifically information such as ink consumption, number of form cutting operations, and number of ink ejections, is typically stored using the following two types of data in a printer according to the related art. That is:                cumulative operation since the start of use by the printer;        operation or use of a specific currently used part.        
In addition, this information is stored in flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), hard disk, or other nonvolatile storage device associated with the printer.
However, printers according to the related art typically store only one of the above two types of information for each operating part or functional part. This has made it difficult to obtain information sufficient to provide detailed maintenance and management.
Furthermore, information about how much a replaced part or device has been operated or used before being replaced is needed in order to gather statistics on the operating durability of those parts or devices.
Yet further, information about when these parts or devices are replaced and how long they were used is also valuable and can be used for the purposes noted above.